West Seattle, Washington
12 Monday
Before we get to six reader reports received this morning/last night: Checking the SPD crime map, we noticed a Monday morning armed street robbery we hadn’t heard about previously, so we sought details from SPD media relations. From the brief report they sent in reply:
A woman reported a man approached her around 6:25 am Monday at a bus stop at 46th SW and Admiral Way, showed a handgun, and demanded her purse. He ran away southbound on 46th with the victim’s purse and laptop. The report describes him as white or Hispanic, late 20s/early 30s, under 6 feet tall, medium build, dark clothing, gray baseball cap, mask or bandana over his face. Police searched but could not find him.
Now, the six reader reports, all property crimes – read on for details of what’s been reported and where:
You’ve probably heard that Mayor McGinn went public on Monday with his city-budget proposal for next year. Now, it’s in the hands of the City Council for reviews, tweaks, additions, subtractions, etc. Not everything in it that would affect West Seattle specifically MENTIONS West Seattle – but we’re going through it right now and looking for specifics, and will publish “budget bits” notes here and there as we find them. For starters, from the proposed transportation budget:
In 2015, SDOT will use $1,450,000 of REET II funds to build sidewalks at the following locations:
• 35th Avenue Southwest between Southwest 104th Street and Southwest 106th Street to complete the sidewalk network on 35th between Southwest Roxbury Street and Southwest 106th Street;
• 21st Avenue Southwest between Southwest Dawson Street and 22nd Avenue Southwest to provide a connection between two non-arterial segments of the proposed 21st Avenue Southwest neighborhood greenway; and,
• Southwest Barton Street/Place and 24th Avenue Southwest to improve access to a transit center and shopping at Westwood Village.
The funding source, REET, stands for real-estate excise tax. More budget bits as we find them! And if you’d like to say something about this or anything else in the budget – or that you think SHOULD BE in the budget – two public hearings are coming up October 3rd and 24th; details on the council’s budget-process home page. They’re also taking e-mail feedback at council@seattle.gov.
(WSB photo of bee-loved blooms at Emma Schmitz Overlook, photographed last Saturday)
What’s up? Some of the answers for today/tonight, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
STORY TIMES: 10:30 am Toddler Story Time at West Seattle Branch Library (2306 42nd SW); 11:30 am Baby Story Time at Southwest Branch Library (35th/Henderson).
FOR THE LOVE OF CHEESE: 11 am-2 pm, go see the cheesemaking team at Metropolitan Market-Admiral (WSB sponsor) make mozzarella, as part of the ongoing For the Love of Cheese celebration. (41st/42nd/Admiral)
CROSSTOWN-RIVALRY SOCCER: West Seattle High School and Chief Sealth International High School‘s girls-varsity soccer teams face off at 4 pm today, Southwest Athletic Complex. (2801 SW Thistle)
‘SCHOOL YOUR PARENTS’ AT THE LIBRARY: 5:30 pm, families are welcome to come find out how much Delridge Branch Library can help with homework, studying, researching, more, at the “School Your Parents” event, explained in our calendar listing. (5423 Delridge Way SW)
WEST SEATTLE TRANSIT COALITION: Fight for the right to get where you’re going via bus. Grass-roots coalition launch meeting 6:30 pm, Neighborhood House’s High Point Center – agenda preview in our story from Monday. (6400 Sylvan Way SW)
DESC PROJECT ADVISORY COMMITTEE: As the new 66-unit “supportive housing” complex gets close to completion on Delridge Way, the advisory committee meets again, with updates on the project (noted in our preview), 6:30 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
BLOCK WATCH CAPTAINS NETWORK: Learn about “Smart 911” at this month’s meeting – you don’t have to be a Block Watch captain (or even member) to attend; details on the WSBWCN website. Southwest Precinct meeting room, 6:30 pm. (Delridge/Webster)
CANCER-FIGHTING FUNDRAISER: Salty’s on Alki (WSB sponsor) hosts a Tuesday Tune-Up event to benefit the Brosio-Hamasaki-Stein Guild – explained in our calendar listing. (1936 Harbor SW)
Lots MORE nightlife on our calendar!
(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; other cameras are on the WSB Traffic page)
Traffic watch begins for Tuesday, and we have two road-work projects to mention:
6000 BLOCK OF BEACH DRIVE: Now that the slope repair is done, the long-rutted road is being ground down and repaved as promised. The city now says the work is expected to run 7 am-7 pm today and tomorrow. One lane will be kept open for traffic, alternating directions with the help of a flagger.
SOUTH DELRIDGE REPAVING: The final stage of this year-long project is now under way, restricting traffic from Henderson to Roxbury. (Follow that link to see the detour map.)
WEST SEATTLE TRANSIT COALITION TONIGHT: 6:30 pm, the launch meeting of a peninsula-wide advocacy group – location and agenda info here.
(If you can’t see the embedded photos, click here to see them on Instagram’s site)
Note the red Hiawatha Volleyball shirts worn by the second group of girls in this two-part photo posted on Instagram by the UW Volleyball program last Friday night – thanks to Bri’Anna for sending us the link, and reporting:
Coach Al invited his 10-11 Hiawatha Community Center volleyball team (and their families) out to watch the UW Volleyball team play Cal State Northridge (Friday) night. It has been an exciting evening! He is an awesome coach and SPS bus driver. He’s been coaching for over 10 years and it shows. The entire first game was used to explain hits, scoring, positioning, and more! These girls are lucky to have him!
Want to cheer them on? We asked about upcoming games, and Coach Al himself sent this list:
9/24 5:30 @ Rainier CC
10/3 5:30 @ Jefferson Gym
10/10 5:30 Queen Anne Gym
10/14 5:30 Hiawatha
10/21 5:30 Hiawatha
Whether you want to cheer or know someone who wants to play, keep an eye on local city-run community centers’ seasonal brochures – here’s the one for fall – for info on both leagues and drop-in programs, in a variety of sports.
After eleven months of construction, the DESC building at 5444 Delridge Way SW, intended to house more than 60 people who otherwise would be homeless, is a few months from completion. If you are interested in an update and/or have questions about what’s happening as it gets closer to opening, the project’s Advisory Committee is meeting tomorrow night – 6:30 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW) – and the agenda is on the project website.
That site north of Morgan Junction at 5911 42nd SW (map), once suggested for possible city purchase as open space, now has a development proposal in the works. County records show the site is owned by the nearby West Seattle Church of the Nazarene, and according to Department of Planning and Development online files, it’s proposed for six townhouses on the west side of the parcel, across an alley from multifamily housing and business properties that front California SW.
There’s a twist: The 18,000-square-foot site is zoned as three single-family-home lots, so rezoning to LR-1 (lowrise 1, allowing three stories) is proposed to allow the townhomes, each of which would have a 2-car garage, according to the site plan on file. The project page on the DPD website describes the project as a “contract” rezone – meaning permission would be sought for a rezone just for this purpose – and mentions that the plan would include “… PUDA agreement to provide remainder of land as public open space.” (PUDA is short for Property Use and Development Agreement, explained here along with contract rezones.)
This is a brand-new proposal; the city page also mentions a “pre-application site visit” just this past Friday. Rezone proposals require City Council approval, so this would have a ways to go in public process before final approval. We have a message out to the church in hopes of finding out more, especially about the open-space component, and will update with whatever we find out.
QUADRATO: Four months after unveiling his plan, proprietor Cary Kemp says the sandwich/pizza/coffee shop at 4304 SW Oregon between Brunette Mix (WSB sponsor) and Many Moons is close to opening – likely either next Monday (September 30th) or the Monday after that (October 7th). We dropped by the cozy shop for photos today.
You might also have noticed Quadrato’s neon sign (upper left of photo above) that’s up – smaller than the one at Kemp’s other eatery, Pizzeria 22. Quadrato does have a website – quadrato.co. The menu, says Kemp, is in final development.
BRICKYARD: We’ve received a few tips about activity at the long-shuttered Brickyard BBQ location in The Admiral District (2308 California SW). And evidence suggests it is indeed getting set to reopen:
The flyer posted on its locked gate is a liquor-license application under the name Milo’s Brickyard Grill. One of our tipsters, Eric, says he talked with people there working in the space who said they’re hoping to open within a week or so, depending on when the license is granted. Nobody there when we went by for a photo but we’ll check back.
Tunnel-digging – which resumed today – is NOT all that’s happening along the Highway 99 corridor nearest us. The photo above, shared by WSDOT on the WSB Flickr page, shows what’s being dug next to the tunnel machine’s launch pit south of what’s left of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. This site will hold the South Portal Operations Building for the tunnel, explained by WSDOT: “The building – along with a similar one at the tunnel’s future north portal – will house the equipment needed for the safe operation of the tunnel, including emergency generators, ventilation fans and parking space for maintenance vehicles.”
This project is part of what the combined Stakeholders Groups were briefed about last Tuesday. We cover those quarterly-or-so briefings when we can, because they are usually chock full of news about road projects affecting us, but this time it was in direct conflict with the big Seattle Public Schools announcement – so we weren’t there. However, the presentation from the meeting is online now, and if you want a quick update on what’s up, the toplines include:
*Findings on another tunnel-tolling scenario (page 4)
*More on the aforementioned South Portal building and the Atlantic St. overpass (page 8)
*Progress report on the Highway 99 timber bridge project south of the WS Bridge (page 50)
One hour a day, one day a week – can you spare that to tutor a student? Invest in Youth needs tutors for Roxhill Elementary in West Seattle (and four others listed below if you work off the peninsula) –
Here’s your opportunity to give back. For one hour, just once a week on your way home from work, you can go into a nearby Seattle grade school and tutor a child who needs a little extra help with his or her studies. Invest in Youth is looking for additional tutors for the 2013 – 2014 school year.
Participating in Invest in Youth requires a tutoring commitment of one hour per week (with several holidays) for the duration of the school year. Upon joining the program, you will be paired with an elementary school student in 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th grade and work with that same student for the entire year, getting to know their strengths and weaknesses while tracking their progress from week to week. It is an extremely rewarding experience for both students and their tutors!
(Thanks to Dave in Admiral for sharing the rainbow – spotted just as the Seahawks game wrapped up)
From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar and the WSB inbox:
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) begins its fall semester today.
BUDGET SPEECHES: It’s budget season for local elected officials and the big events happen today – at 11 am, King County Executive Dow Constantine announces his, and at 2 pm, Mayor Mike McGinn announces his. Details to follow.
LIVE A HEART-HEALTHY LIFE: Free presentation by nationally known health/lifestyle expert Joe Piscatella at The Kenney (WSB sponsor), 3 pm. Details in our calendar listing. (7125 Fauntleroy Way SW)
THOUGHTS ON SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY’S FUTURE? City Librarian Marcellus Turner comes to West Seattle Branch Library tonight for a community conversation, 5:30-6:45 pm. Details in our calendar listing. (2306 42nd SW)
DELRIDGE GROCERY: As the announcement e-mail from Delridge Grocery puts it:
Your next, in-person opportunity to become a member/owner of Delridge’s future co-op grocery store is in (tonight). Please meet us at the Delridge branch of the Public Library at 5423 Delridge Way SW on Monday, September 23rd between 6:30 and 7:30pm to sign up with your cash, check or credit card.
Volunteers! If you are interested in helping to get our information out, if you have expressed interest in the past to help, or if you just want more general information this meeting is for you. We will have volunteer packets and general information ready for you to share with your friends, coworkers, and neighbors. Our t-shirts are also available for a reduced seasonal price of $10! Come get yours!
STAR ANNA @ EASY STREET: With a new album out, the acclaimed Star Anna performs a free in-store concert tonight at 7 pm at Easy Street Records – details on the ESR website. (California/Alaska)
As we reminded in today’s traffic-watch report, tomorrow’s the launch meeting for the West Seattle Transit Coalition, a grass-roots-born peninsula-wide voice to advocate for this area’s needs in a time of development, redevelopment, and other changes. Organizers have just shared the agenda, and in case you were worried about it being a “sit down and listen” type of meeting, this might reassure you that you’ll have a voice – read on:
(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; other cameras are on the WSB Traffic page)
First full day of fall, and we have a road-work reminder:
DELRIDGE REPAVING PROJECT’S FINAL PHASE: As announced two weeks ago, today is the scheduled start of the final phase of the almost-year-long repaving project, Henderson to Roxbury. Here’s the detour map:
Also:
FERRY SCHEDULE/FARE CHANGES: The Fauntleroy run is among those affected by the state’s fall schedule/fare changes, which kicked in Sunday.
WEST SEATTLE TRANSIT COALITION TOMORROW: Another reminder that this new advocacy group has its launch meeting tomorrow (Tuesday), 6:30 pm at Neighborhood House’s High Point Center – details in our preview.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
West Seattle’s two highest-ranking Seattle Police crimefighters are making the neighborhood rounds.
This Thursday, Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Joe Kessler and operations Lt. Pierre Davis are scheduled to brief a Fauntleroy Community Association-organized crime-prevention meeting (as previewed here).
This past week, we heard from both at the Alki Community Council, and from Lt. Davis at the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council, which, because its originally scheduled guests had been postponed, turned into a lengthy Q/A session.
Ahead, key points from both meetings:
A new West Seattle-wide effort to preserve and advocate for open space – as a balance to “high-density development” – is in its formative stage, we learned from Genesee-Schmitz Neighborhood Council reps tabling outside the Farmers’ Market today.
The spark is the current Seattle City Light process to decide the fate of former substation sites, including six West Seattle properties. GSNC is advocating in particular for the open-space prospects of the one at 49th and Dakota. But they believe the entire multi-site process should be put on hold until the community has a chance to try to rally resources to keep at least some of the sites as open space. Today, they were collecting signatures on a petition asking City Light and the City Council to delay decisions until at least 2015. And they’re forming the West Seattle Green Space Coalition to advance this cause and related issues – here’s how it was explained atop the petition sheets:
There are two dates coming up soon that you’ll want to make note of, if you’re interested in fighting for green space:
-Next Saturday (September 28th), a formation meeting for the Green Space Coalition, 4:30 pm. (We’re verifying the location and will update the story with final word – update, High Point Branch Library, 35th/Raymond.)
-October 2nd, 6:30 pm at High Point Community Center, the official city public hearing on the ex-substation sites’ fate. (Here’s what GSNC wrote about this earlier.)
6:27 PM: Alice says the weather is good enough, she’s changed her mind and fall equinox sunset watch is back on! Get over to Solstice Park (uphill behind the tennis courts across from the gas station north of Lincoln Park).
7:42 PM: We got there right around sunset – clouds obscured the sun, but a bit of color still splashed the sky. Alice’s daughter (with mom, below) had the whole world in her hands:
This was her 18th solstice/equinox-sunset watch at the park, where particular stones are set to mark the spots that should be in line with the equinox/solstice sunsets. In case you lost track – fall officially arrived at 1:44 pm our time, and up on the hillside, the chilly breeze was quite seasonal.
Got word today that the Class of 1963 from Fauntleroy Elementary School – that’s the historic schoolhouse that is now a community center – is planning a 50-year class reunion. Organizers want to hear from interested alums; if that’s you, contact claudinelytle@yahoo.com or linda@seanet.com.
Extra edition of West Seattle Crime Watch this afternoon, since we try to get auto-theft reports out relatively quickly. From Josh:
My 1997 Honda Accord was stolen from 2000 block of SW Trenton ST right behind Staples between the hours of 830 pm last night (9/21/13) and this afternoon (9/22/13). It is a forest green Accord and the passenger side door handle is half broken off and there is a green Mesa Verde National Park parking sticker that’s about 1.5×1.5 inches on the left bottom front windshield. License plate ALC6772.
Call 911 if you see it.
Ahead, a road-rage incident reported to police, and a knife found in The Junction (stolen? lost? maybe you know):
(Officer Wollberg on Jet)
After the Seattle Police Mounted Patrol found itself in danger of being put out to budget-cut pasture a few years back – rescued with community support rounded up by the Seattle Police Foundation – they realized that for some in the city, their existence was a too-well-kept secret. They’re based here in West Seattle, and even here, many didn’t know about them. So today’s first-ever open house, presented by the foundation, is an attempt to change that – with riding demonstrations and some behind-the-scenes views:
And it was clear even before we saw the elbow-to-elbow crowd in the arena, the event is a hit:
It’s not only the horses and humans who are the attraction –
A different kind of horsepower is also on view –
That’s the famous classic SPD 1970 Plymouth Satellite, often seen at events – read all about it here. But back to the horses – as the SPF website rallying support for them points out, SPD has had a Mounted Patrol for more than a century. Get a firsthand look until 5 pm today – their HQ is just inside the 8600 8th SW entrance to Westcrest Park (look for the Mounted Patrol-labeled police car marking the entrance).
Here on this rainy Sunday afternoon, we have a few more views from the sunny Saturday afternoon whale-watching that so many were able to do – Top, Betsy Bertiaux shares her view from a kayak; next, Trileigh Tucker caught several whales and the research vessel that was checking them out:
Next, shared via the Orca Network‘s Facebook page, Alisa Lemire Brooks‘ video of the whales before they got here – when they were still to the north – she says they’re from K and L pods:
And one more of our photos showing the whale watchers at Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook on Beach Drive:
If you missed the photos we published yesterday, along with running updates on the whales’ whereabouts – see them here.
Jake George and Jasper Wyman, Chief Sealth International High School students, showed up to help out with one of Saturday’s community-powered cleanups, at and around the Walking on Logs sculptures at the Fauntleroy end of the West Seattle Bridge. “They did a serious amount of weed-whacking,” says Nancy Driver, who shared the photos:
Nancy says she and the Walking On Logs Landscape Restoration Group – who comprised the rest of the volunteer turnout – REALLY appreciated their help, and want to say a big, public THANKS!
Something you might notice next time you drive past the site – the WOL sign “got a good scrubbing yesterday and is now much brighter and more readable, thanks to Sharonn Meeks,” Nancy adds:
That’s Sharonn at left, and Deb Barker in the background pulling invasive morning-glory vines. Overall, Nancy summarizes, “We filled one bag with trash and around 15 bags of plant waste. Others at the cleanup were Jim and Dee Dean and Steven Butts.” The WOL area is volunteer-maintained and can use a lot more help, especially from those who use it for promotions; to get involved with the restoration/maintenance effort, contact Nancy at nldriver@q.com.
A funeral Mass is planned at Holy Family this Wednesday morning for 84-year-old Theodore (Ted) John Wiese:
Ted went home to the Lord 9-19-13 at the age of 84. Born in Woodburn, OR in 1929, he married Doris Marie Prinslow on October 2, 1954, after being honorably discharged as a corporal from the Marine Corps and attending OSU. He retired from The Boeing Company after 26 years and was ordained to the Diaconate, serving the Archdiocese of Seattle for the past 24 years at Holy Family Parish, White Center.
He is survived by his wife Doris, sister Jeanette Moore, his children Connie (Richard) Sanders, Larry Wiese, Greg Wiese, Julie (Bruce) Hanson, Lisa (Karl) Hansen, Tom (Wendy) Wiese, Margaret (Jeff Haack) Wiese, and Paul Wiese, 10 grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild. Mass of the Christian Burial will be at Holy Family Church, Seattle at 11:00 am September 25. To leave an online condolence, please visit Yaringtons.com. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ted’s memory to Catholic Community Services or Holy Family Parish.
(WSB publishes obituaries by request, free of charge. Please e-mail the text, and a photo if available, to editor@westseattleblog.com)
In this West Seattle Crime Watch roundup: First, we mentioned this on our partner site White Center Now last night, but in case the stolen stroller turns up on this side of the line:
(Saturday night) around 7:15-7:30 pm, our family was eating at Proletariat Pizza in White Center. Our orange and brown BOB single stroller was stolen. Our family is sad, as we use it every day. If found please return to Proletariat Pizza; they know how to contact us.
-Highland Park Family
Next – Anne e-mailed this report last night:
Our neighbors on 8300 block of 39th ave SW were broken into (Friday). Their computers were stolen, hence my post as their neighbor. Police were called and fingerprints were taken. It was during daylight hours. We must all be aware of our surroundings. These break-ins are happening much too frequently.
According to the police-reports map – screen grab at left – that’s one of eight West Seattle burglaries in the past week, through yesterday (the “2” icon denotes a location when the burglary was one of two crimes). That’s West Seattle’s general average (you’ll hear more about crime trends in a story coming up here later today). The other seven burglary locations you see on the map are:
4500 block West Marginal Way SW (Sunday 9/15)
8500 block 37th SW (Sunday 9/15)
8600 block 17th SW (Monday 9/17)
7900 block 32nd SW (Tuesday 9/18)
400 block SW Cloverdale (Thursday 9/19)
6700 block 12th SW (Friday 9/20)
3900 block SW 107th (Friday 9/20)
One more reader report: And Deborah sent this short report: “Car burglary Jack Block Park, Thurs. 3:30 pm, of a teal GMC truck. Any witnesses?” (If so, call 911.)
PREVENTING CRIME: Our area’s next crime-prevention meetings are the West Seattle Block Watch Captains’ Network (Tuesday, 6:30 pm, Southwest Precinct) with a presentation about Smart911, and Thursday’s special Fauntleroy Community Association-organized crime-prevention meeting, 6:30 pm ice-cream social, 7 pm meeting (as previewed here), at The Hall at Fauntleroy.
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